The field of the present invention is that of priming systems for an explosive charge.
Ordinarily, a priming system comprises a pyrotechnic priming component (or primer) that initiates a secondary explosive booster charge, the secondary explosive booster charge providing initiation of the principal explosive charge.
The primer is a pyrotechnic component that contains a small quantity of very sensitive primary explosive. The secondary explosive booster charge is less sensitive than the primer, but can be initiated by it.
The principal drawback of known priming systems has to do with the extremely sensitive nature of the primer and the primer boosters.
Moreover, in order to initiate insensitive explosives, priming components that can deliver high energies have to be employed.
To prevent untimely detonation of explosive charges, safety and arming devices have been designed with which the primer or primer booster can be isolated from the remainder of the pyrotechnic system.
These devices are complex and costly mechanical assemblies.
Priming systems are all the more difficult to implement (and bulky) if the explosive being initiated is of the insensitive type, and thus requires substantial levels of priming energy.